It's easy to find reasons why a team or a particular player is struggling. It's more difficult to figure out what the real problem is.

The Detroit Tigers are in first place in the American League Central Division, but they seemed to have underachieved at times. They lead the majors in several offensive categories and have one of the top starting rotations in the league. Yet, they have the fifth-best record in the American League and lead the Cleveland Indians by just 1 1/2 games.

So let's take a look at a handful of issues that have held the Tigers back a bit in the first 94 games of the season and try to separate myth from reality when it comes to those issues.

Myth: The lack of an established closer has killed the Tigers.Reality: The failures of Al Alburquerque, Brayan Villarreal and Phil Coke have hurt the bullpen much, much more.

The closer situation has received most of the attention for two reasons: The closer is the highest profile pitcher in the bullpen and Jose Valverde was involved. Tigers fans weren't willing to give him much rope after his postseason failures in 2012.

The Valverde experiment was a worthwhile one for the Tigers this season. It was low-risk and ended at about the right time. The Tigers were right to move on.

The Detroit Tigers expected Al Alburquerque to be a key member of the bullpen this season. But he has spent a good portion of the season trying to work out control issues with Triple-A Toledo and has been inconsistent while with the Detroit Tigers.AP File Photo

But ponder the bullpen issues a bit. The Tigers headed north from spring training expecting Octavio Dotel, Alburquerque, Villarreal and Coke to play key roles in the bullpen. Dotel and Coke were expected to close some games. Alburquerque and Villarreal are young pitchers with dynamic stuff who were expected to play key roles and should be able to get big strikeouts with men on base. Alburquerque, Dotel and Coke were expected to get plenty of work in the seventh and eighth innings.

But none of the four have contributed with any consistency. Dotel has been on the disabled list since April 20 and might have thrown his last pitch as a member of the Detroit Tigers. Alburquerque has spent the majority of the season in Toledo and has been inconsistent when in Detroit.

Villarreal hasn't been able to find the strike zone in the majors or Triple-A. Coke has been reduced from a key component in the bullpen to a lefty-on-lefty specialist at best and a "let's find spots for him so he can find some success" guy at worst.

Pin the bullpen struggles on Valverde if you like. But the closer hasn't been the major issue with the bullpen this season.

Myth: A lack of velocity on his fastball has hurt Justin Verlander.Reality: A lack of fastball command has been the bigger issue for Justin Verlander.

Justin Verlander has been hurt by a lack of fastball command at times this season, though he seems to be headed in the right direction at this point.AP File Photo

Verlander's velocity has been down a bit this season. There's little doubt about that. But fastball command has been a bigger issue. It's one that he might have solved already, which could mean good things for him and Tigers fans in the second half.

After a pair of five-inning outings in June, Verlander worked with pitching coach Jeff Jones to adjust his shoulder angle, which had been way out of whack. Verlander has a 2.17 ERA in four starts since then and has pitched at least seven innings in each of those four starts.

Verlander has allowed just seven earned runs in those four starts, with four of those runs coming in one inning in a loss to the Chicago White Sox. He appears to be headed in the right direction.

If he continues to pitch in the second half like he has since making the adjustment to his mechanics, people won't worry about whether his fastball velocity is down a tick from last season.

Myth: A couple of players are to blame for the offensive ills.Reality: A lack of hitting in the clutch has cost the Tigers victories.

Miguel Cabrera is posting MVP-type numbers that are ahead of the pace he set last season when he won the Triple Crown. But his season has been built on amazing success in the first six innings mixed with some struggles in the seventh inning and beyond. Many of his teammates have struggled in the late innings as well.AP File Photo

It's an oversimplification to simply pick the regular player with the worst offensive numbers or the 25th player on the team and heap all the blame upon him. It seems that everyone is quick to pile on Alex Avila and Don Kelly as the source when the Tigers struggle offensively.

Of course, Avila has posted atrocious offensive numbers. The Tigers need him to do better. Kelly? Well, is it fair to point out that Andy Dirks has been no more productive and has almost three times as many at-bats? Or that many people's solution to the backup outfielder problem, Avisail Garcia, has a worse batting average and OPS than Kelly?

Kelly actually is posting solid numbers after a slow start. His average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage and OPS are all above his career averages.

But we're getting off the point here. The point is that the Tigers have posted amazing offensive numbers overall and absolutely atrocious offensive numbers at key points.

The Tigers are first in the majors in batting average and second in runs scored and OPS. In the seventh inning and beyond, the Tigers are 28th -- 28th! -- in batting average, runs scored and OPS. (The Miami Marlins are behind them in all three categories. The Houston Astros are ahead of the Tigers in all three.)

The issues start at the top. Miguel Cabrera is hitting .413 with 80 RBIs and a 1.280 OPS in the first six innings and .250 with 15 RBIs and a .784 OPS in the seventh inning and beyond. He's building his case as the potential AL MVP in the early portion of games, not the end.

Cabrera's numbers in the late innings are bad. But what's worse is that his .250 average in those situations ranks second on the team. Prince Fielder is hitting .248 in the late innings. Victor Martinez is at .198.

The bullpen gets most of the blame when the Tigers lose a close game in the late innings or extra innings. Guys like Avila and Kelly take a beating when the offense struggles. But the lack of timely offense by some of the guys who draw the biggest paychecks has been a much bigger deal.